Sword God in a World of Magic

Eventually, Shang returned to the real world.

Linay quickly noticed that Shang's dormant Spirit Sense was finally moving again after over 500 years, and she released a sigh of relief.

Was he finally done?

"How much time has passed?" Shang asked.

"A bit more than 500 years," she answered.

'That means I'm about 2,900 years old, leaving me with only 2,100 years," Shang thought.

"What about the ore?" Shang asked.

"Everything has been gathered," Linay answered. "Due to the value, I thought it would be better not to let it get delivered to this place. Everything's waiting in the Lightning Manor."

Shang nodded. "Then, let's return."

"You've comprehended the Concept of Temperatures?" Linay asked.

"Yes," Shang answered.

Linay just nodded.

She knew that a couple of Concepts became more difficult based on their connections, and the Concept of Temperatures was one of them.

A couple of people wanted to combine several Elements, but the combining of Concepts always became more and more difficult to comprehend.

Most people focused on only one Element since they also only had one Affinity, but there were also some people that focused on two. Nearly every Cloud trained in at least two Elements.

However, there were also a few people that focused on three Elements.

A good example would be Space, Time, and Gravity.

To combine them, one needed three Concepts. Spacetime, Timegravity, and Gravityspace.

With these Concepts, the power of all three increased by a bit.

Naturally, these Concepts weren't the priority since the small increase in power often wasn't worth the effort. People often only focused on these mixed Concepts when they were already Ancestral Mages or Mage Lords.

There was also a popular mix of Water, Ice, and Wind, which needed the Concepts of States, Snow, and Steam.

Naturally, all four of Shang's Concepts were known. People knew about Temperatures, Twilight, Addition, and Subtraction, but people never focused on all four of them.

The reason was their longevity.

Focusing on three Elements meant equally increasing their power so that none of the three fell behind the other two.

This took a lot of effort for only a small increase in Battle-Strength relative to others.

And four Elements?

Nah.

Forget it.

Too much work.

People wouldn't even attempt it since it would consume so much time to strengthen all four of them that their longevity would run out.

One guy would need to focus for many years to comprehend level one Concepts for all four Elements, and after comprehending four different Concepts, their opponents would have already reached the next Realm and would have comprehended a level two Concept.

Even more, since the Affinities couldn't properly be combined in the early Realms, the Mage would only be able to exhibit the power of one level one Concept at a time.

People would be very weak for a very long time since the last of the four required Concepts would be a level four Concept.

However, all of this didn't apply to Shang.

Not because of his Affinity but because he was a warrior.

Shang was using his Affinities for everything, but one had to remember that Shang's power always came from his body.

His speed, offense, and defense mainly came from his body, which were augmented by the Elements.

Meanwhile, all of a Mage's power came from their Affinities.

So, even if Shang needed to comprehend a lot of weak Concepts that were not very useful, due to his techniques and sheer physical strength, his Battle-Strength would still be very outstanding.

One had to remember that if Shang didn't use any of his Affinities, his power would still be equal to a Cloud.

The same thing wasn't true for Mages since all their power came from the very Concepts they comprehended.

Linay knew that the Concept of Temperatures was most likely as difficult as a level four Concept to Shang, which was why she wasn't surprised that Shang took this long.

To Linay, the time Shang had taken to comprehend a level four Concept was average for a Cloud.

Naturally, she knew that Shang wasn't a Mage, which meant that he should be slower.

However, Clouds also didn't have access to a Beast King that was willing to demonstrate a Concept.

If a Cloud had access to this place, they probably would have comprehended the Concept in about 400 years.

Shang was still slower in comprehending Concepts than an average Cloud.

Eventually, the two of them left the Hadean King behind and traveled back to the portal.

"I'm signed to be your bodyguard for one century more," Linay said.

"I know," Shang answered evenly.

"Is there anything specific you want me to do?" she asked.

"No," Shang answered.

Linay could only sigh.

She was itching to do anything else.

It was nice to relax once in a while and earn easy money just by standing in place, but after over 500 years, she almost felt trapped.

She just wanted to do something that wasn't standing around.

After stepping through the portal, Shang's Transmission Medal immediately rang.

Shang was quite surprised by the Aura of the caller.

It was the Starlight Queen.

"Yes?" Shang said.

"You are Shang Sword, the Ancestral Hero, correct?" she asked.

"Correct," Shang said.

"The Custodian has informed me about your situation and the true extent of your powers. He said that you are interested in me becoming your teacher, correct?" she asked.

"Correct," Shang answered.

"I'm currently busy with the southeastern front, the Research Department, and the Reconnaissance Department. I really don't have any time right now, but I think things will calm down when we get our new Mage King."

"I've heard," Shang said.

"In a bit more than a century, I can find some time for you. However, you have to keep in mind that I need to focus on many different things, and I can't just dedicate my entire time to you. Additionally, the extent to which I help you is also up to my discretion."

Shang's Aura darkened.

"What do you want?" Shang asked.

Shang could also feel the Starlight Queen's Aura change after he asked that question.

"If you even want me to consider putting any time aside for you, your method of addressing the other Mage Kings and I has to change," she said with a cold but professional tone.

"Stronger people and people that have done a lot for the Lightning Manor deserve to be treated with respect."

"I understand the problem you have with me addressing you, but I don't see how my conduct towards other Mage Kings has anything to do with you," Shang said.

"If you want to be my student, you will be an extension of myself, and how you treat others will also reflect back on me. Showing respect is important, and if you don't respect others, by extension, it will be like I don't show respect to others."

"Fine," Shang said.

Many kilometers away, the Starlight Queen released a sigh of frustration.

"I'm also fine with books," Shang said.

The Starlight Queen furrowed her brows.

"Elaborate," she said.

"The only reason why I even wanted a Mage King teacher in the first place was that I need someone to teach me everything about efficiently comprehending Concepts since I am not a Mage. As a Mage King, you should be the best in that department."

"But if that doesn't work, it isn't a big loss. I can just do what Queen Primordium did back then. It might take me a bit longer this way, but maybe only one to three decades or so. At least I don't have to change my entire personality this way."

"I don't need you as my teacher anymore."

Many kilometers away, the Starlight Queen's eyes narrowed in fury.

However, deep inside her eyes, there was also a bit of fear and anxiety.

She readied her next words, but the connection was cut immediately.

She quickly tried to contact Shang again, but the Transmission Medal couldn't build a connection.

Shang had already entered his Isolation Barrier.

The Starlight Queen's frustration and rage exploded.

No one had ever dared to talk to her like this!

However, Shang wasn't the only person she was angry about.

She was also angry at herself.

The reason why she had called was because of her subordinate, Thunder Maruan Depthwalk.

The Starlight Queen was fiercely loyal to the Lightning Manor, but she was just as loyal to her subordinates.

She had heard about Shang's ridiculous demand.

Naturally, her subordinate's punishment had already been way too harsh, but he wasn't even fine with that.

She couldn't possibly rationalize killing her subordinate for what she had done.

So, she wanted to talk with Shang. In exchange for more time with her, she wanted Shang to let things slide with her subordinate.

But now...

The Starlight Queen turned towards the southeast, at the advancing Judgment Palace.

She knew best how dire the situation was here.

If things continued like this, the Judgment Palace would reach a different Zone, and then, everything would break apart.

They needed help!